Why Faraday Future’s luxury electric car is named FF 91

Faraday Future FF 91Faraday Future unveiled its FF 91 electric car at a special event held during the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week. It's a crossover-utility vehicle with a claimed 1,050 horsepower and 378-mile range, the latter courtesy of a 130-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack. Aside from those ambitious performance claims, the FF 91...

Real-world new-car fuel economy in 3-year plateau

Fuel gaugeFor nearly a decade, the average fuel economy of new cars sold in the U.S. steadily increased—but that moment has stalled in recent years. Low gas prices and increased consumer interest in SUVs has caused new-car average fuel economy to plateau and, in the case of 2016's figures, decline slightly. The average fuel economy of new cars sold in...

Samsung lithium-ion cell to recharge to 80 percent in 20 minutes

Samsung SDI battery plant in Xi'an, ChinaThe limitations of current lithium-ion battery-cell technology pose a hindrance to more widespread adoption of plug-in electric cars. Relatively short ranges and long charging times accorded by current lithium-ion cells still limit the appeal of electric cars in the minds of many new-car buyers. Now Samsung SDI—the South Korean electronics...

VW executive arrested by FBI on diesel emission conspiracy charges

2015 Volkswagen Golf TDIThe head of VW Group's U.S. regulatory compliance group was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation this weekend on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Oliver Schmidt led the German automaker's regulatory compliance during 2014 and the early part of 2015. The Volkswagen diesel emission scandal erupted in September 2015 when...

Advocacy group says diesel cars coming back; it meant trucks

2016 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel HFEWhen the Volkswagen diesel scandal erupted last year, it not only hurt the public perception of diesel vehicles in the U.S., but also eliminated the biggest seller of diesel passenger cars from the market. TDI diesel models once made up as much as a quarter of the Volkswagen brand's U.S. sales, and VW Group's Audi and Porsche luxury brands sold...